The Bonds of Friendship
by pisces317
Summary: After he is rescued from the hands of one of Atlantis' own, Carson learns who his true friends are and that the bonds of friendship can survive anything. Carson whump. Shep whump. Please R&R!


**Title: **Bonds of Friendship

**Summary:** After he is rescued from the hands of one of Atlantis' own, Carson learns who his true friends are and that the bonds of friendship can survive anything. Carson whump. Shep whump.

**Spoilers: **Takes place during and after the ep "Phantoms" but doesn't closely follow it.

**Disclaimer:**Not mine, just borrowing, hurting and comforting.

**Author's Note:**Written for CB Rewrite challenge on Gateworld.

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><p>"Colonel," Carson addressed, stepping gingerly toward the frozen soldier. The man looked like the smallest noise would frighten him into a hole and Carson didn't want to be responsible for that. John's head turned from side to side, his hazel eyes staring at his surroundings like he'd seen a ghost. He squinted his eyes hoping to bring things into focus and when his gaze landed on the doctor coming towards them they widened in confusion and something akin to terror. "Colonel, what's wrong?"<p>

Before he knew what had happened, Carson found himself lying on the floor of the forest, his head being forced awkwardly into the dirt, putting strain on his neck, and his right arm behind his back, pinned there by Major Leonard who was sitting astride him with a knee digging into his back. The soldier used his weight to hold Carson down while he aimed his gun at a stunned Colonel Sheppard. He attempted to jostle the man off him but only resulted in the Major twisting his arm cruelly until he felt his wrist give more than was normal. The cry that escaped his lips seemed lost on deaf ears as the two soldiers stared at one another.

Carson didn't know if it was the attack or the gun pointed right at him but something managed to snap John out of his daze and he turned his own gun on the Major. "Major, stand down."

Leonard was too far gone to listen and shot at the enemy in front of him, hitting John in the shoulder. The Colonel cried out and staggered from the force of the bullet giving the Major enough time to haul Carson off the ground and run, pulling the unwilling doctor behind him.

Pain raced through John's shoulder spreading down to his finger tips. He grimaced as another spike came and glared down at the injury as though that would stop it from hurting or at least make it move sides, but it remained where it was, slowly oozing blood down his vest. He grabbed the field bandage from his vest and wrapped it around the shoulder, doing his best to put pressure on it as he tied it off.

A sound to his left came and immediately John started running. It was hard since images of the forest kept changing into images of Afghanistan but he relied on his ears to lead him to Leonard and, more importantly, Carson. Each step caused pain to race through his arm and back and he found that if he focused briefly on each stab, he could bring reality back into view. There was no telling who Leonard thought Carson was so there was no guarantee that the Major wouldn't harm him. John wouldn't allow Leonard to harm the doctor, he couldn't.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time but now John wasn't so sure. At first he hadn't wanted Carson to come along in the search for their lost men while the others stayed behind to work but the doctor had made an argument that while it wasn't strong, it was enough to get him to agree. They both soon discovered that at least three of the men no longer needed medical attention – having been dead for several hours – then a noise and gunfire came and the hunt was on.

A pained cry echoed through the forest and John instantly switched directions, knowing exactly who that sound belonged to. _Hold on Carson, _he urged silently wondering if the doctor could even hear him. _I'm coming just hold on._

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><p>Carson tried his hardest to keep up with the Major but he just wasn't as fit as the soldier was. Whenever he tried to stop to breathe he was roughly pulled along again within a matter of seconds. At last his legs refused to go any further and he stumbled, falling onto the ground while barely touching it as Leonard's hand had a good hold on his shirt and vest. From that point on he was dragged through the forest with dirt collecting in his pants and down his bum. He tried to fight the hold on his shirt but only managed to make it so he was dragged face facing down instead of upright.<p>

His right foot got stuck on something but he couldn't tell what it was - only that it was stopping him from moving and Major Leonard was not having it. When he managed to look over his shoulder at the foot, he noticed that the toe of his boot was wedged under a tree root. He was just about to tell the Major that when the soldier gave one final, hard tug and wrenched him free.

Instant agony attacked his foot with enough aggression to match a hungry animal. He cried out with the pain, not caring that the sound echoed through the forest as tears leaked out of his eyes. The Major gave no indication that he'd heard Carson and simply continued to drag him until they found a military tent where he was promptly tossed to the ground and guarded with a pistol aimed at his head. In his left hand he held the standard P90, aiming into the trees, waiting for company to come.

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><p>Walking lightly upon the ground, John finally caught up with Carson and Major Leonard. He could feel his energy fading fast the longer he was moving and knew that he needed to get to the doctor sooner rather than later when he dropped from blood loss. He hovered behind a tree, aiming his P90 at the soldier who stood out in the open pointing his own gun in every direction his torso could manage. When John finally got a clear shot he understood why the Major wasn't making an effort to protect himself with bushes, trees or cover – he had all the protection he needed while he held a gun to Carson's head.<p>

Knowing that the jig was up and it was probably best to show himself, the Colonel stepped out from behind his cover and came to stand thirty feet in front of Carson with his gun aimed at the Major. Holding the gun was excruciating but he used that pain to flood his system with adrenaline and force his weakening body to stay upright.

"Major stand down!" he commanded sharply, never wavering in his aim.

Major Leonard cocked his gun while giving John a malicious sneer and there was no doubt in the Colonel's mind what the soldier was about to do. Without hesitation John pulled the trigger and everything went into fast forward.

The bullet hit Leonard in the right shoulder, the impact jarring the arm enough to move his aim away from Carson's head. His pistol went off as the muscles in his hand contracted and Carson cried out agony, curling into himself and holding on to his right leg for dear life as blood began to run out of his boot.

The Major staggered away from Carson, backing towards a tree with panic in his eyes as John kept stepping towards him. He called for help against a super-soldier then when he lost hope, activated a grenade and held on for life.

John went to go cover Beckett as the device activated and managed to shield him from the dirt that now rained down from the sky. He cringed when his act moved his shoulder, sending sparks of agony through the limb, but he held on to his pain, grounding him while he listened to his friend whimper in his own agony.

"Doc?" John called panting as he tried to hold on to this world and not fade. He stood up to get a better look at the wound but swayed instantly and fell to his knees. A groan escaped his mouth, unbidden and unwanted, as he hit the hard forest floor and he winced when he noticed bright, pain and tear-filled blue eyes focus on him.

"Colonel, lad, are you alright?" Carson asked grounding his teeth so he didn't whimper or yell in agony. He tried to turn onto his other side to get a good look at his friend but failed instantly when excruciating pain attacked his leg. He briefly cried out but still continued to try and reach the Colonel.

"Carson, try to get a hold of the others and tell them to radio Atlantis for help then lock in on our signals and find us. I'm going to pass out here for awhile but I'll see you in the infirmary." John's voice grew steadily weaker the longer he talked until finally he couldn't ignore the blackness that was calling his name. He slunk to the ground with a graceful _plunk_ and soon the world faded completely away.

Carson watched as John fell to the ground, unconscious before his head hit the dirt and felt himself begin to panic. He forced his heart to calm when it served to pump more blood out of the wound in his foot and the pain to spike fiercely and slowed his breathing while he radioed the others.

"Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, do you copy?" he called hoarsely while keeping his shaking hand level with his ear. He heavily leaned his head down to the ground with a hard thud and waited for an answer.

"Carson? How did you know we could use these again?" Rodney's curious voice answered.

"I didn't," Carson replied wanting to say more but finding that he needed to close his mouth before he whimpered over the radio. When he felt that he could breathe again, Carson added, "Colonel Sheppard told me to call you lot, have you radio Atlantis for help then lock onto our signals and come get us."

"Carson, what is wrong?" Teyla's concerned voice inquired almost cutting off his instructions.

"The Colonel and I have run into a spot of trouble with Major Leonard. We are both injured and the Colonel is passed out." He gritted his teeth as a new wave of pain washed through his leg and tightened his hold on his thigh.

"What? What has Colonel Clumsy done now?" Rodney asked practically dripping annoyance off his tone.

"Rodney, now is not the time to ask such things. Contact Atlantis and alert them to the situation. Ronon and I will go in search of John and Doctor Beckett." Carson smiled at the authoritative tone in Teyla's voice and almost gave in to his own darkness then and there at the reassurance that he and John would be found but he resisted knowing they were both vulnerable if both of them were unconscious.

"Yes, yes, fine. Go." Rodney answered and Carson pictured him waving his hand at Teyla and Ronon in a "shoo" manner.

"Carson, we are on our way," Teyla informed.

"Aye lass, I know. Don't mind if I ask ya to hurry do ya?" Carson hated that he was practically begging for them to hurry but he couldn't guarantee how long he'd stay awake.

"We'll be there soon Doc," Ronon's determined but friendly voice answered then the line disconnected.

Carson lay on the ground listening to the sounds of the forest and his own ragged breathing. The growing nudging from darkness began to get stronger the longer he lay and he decided he needed to physically do something to stay in focus with this reality. He sat up, propping his injured right foot on top of his left thigh and began to study the wound.

Every miniscule movement sent waves of horrible pain throughout his foot and ankle but as a doctor, Carson knew the boot and sock needed to come off so pressure could be applied to the injury. Gritting his teeth, the Scot went about unlacing his shoe as broadly as he could then gently slipping it off. He bit his tongue to stifle another cry as the boot tugged a little then came loose and remained still to catch his breath before he began taking off the sock.

The foot was red from blood, swollen from the bullet's path, and jagged from shards where the bullet had shattered the bone. It was misaligned from being broken by the harsh tug of the tree root from earlier making him slightly grateful the Major hadn't made him try to walk on the limb – he wouldn't have made it.

The wound itself was rather small but a closer look showed white of sinew and red torn muscles. No matter how much Carson tried, he couldn't feel an exit point and that worried him. Bullet wounds were tricky little blighters that, if left untreated could leave the patient open to complications such as infections and lead poisoning.

He had just managed to wrap his sock around his foot, then yell as he tied his field dressing over the wound, applying as much pressure as his injured limb could take, before the scene of the forest around began fading out and blank, darkness took him.

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><p>Lt. Colonel John Sheppard woke to the smell of antiseptic, the sounds of two heart monitors and the wonderfully familiar feel of Atlantis in the back of his mind, pulsing warmth through his body and dulling the ache in his shoulder. He smiled as widely as the anesthesia would allow and greeted his city. <em>"Hello beautiful." <em>

"_**Hello John. Are you feeling better?" **_

"_Yeah. Thanks for the welcome."_

"_**It was my pleasure."**_

The conversation stopped when he heard feet approach his bed. "Colonel can you hear me?" a new voice called to him through the fog of morphine. "Come on Colonel, I know you're awake. Open your eyes for me. I promise not to blind you the instant they're open."

_Well how can I refuse a bribe like that? _John thought as he struggled to make his eyes cooperate and open. He discovered that whoever this new person was, she was true to her word and found dim lighting around him as he brought the Atlantis infirmary into focus. He turned his head to his left and found Beckett lying in his own bed.

Carson lay still as the dead and just as pale. His head was leaning towards his right allowing John to see the lines of pain that seemed permanently chiseled into the lines of his face. The Scot's right wrist lay supported by a pillow heavily encased by a soft cast with an abandoned, melted ice pack lying against his blanketed hip. What really drew and captivated his attention was Carson's right foot, elevated by several pillows. Swollen toes poked out of a heavily padded splint that encased the entire foot up to his toes and ending halfway up his calf. Another abandoned ice pack straggled down the mound of pillows, slowly melting in the room temperature heat.

"Okay John, I'm going to give you a quick examination then I'll leave you alone but only if you cooperate. Deal?"

John's gaze snapped back to the doctor that stood by his bed and he squinted to try to recall who she was.

"I'm Doctor Porter, you haven't met me yet," she introduced noticing his troubles. "Well that's my official title anyways but please call me Grace. I think I prefer that. Now, how about that cooperative exam, hm?" She slipped on some latex gloves but patiently waited for him to respond before she made a move to approach him.

"You're going to shine the penlight into my eyes aren't you?" John asked sounding more like a whining child than the military leader of Atlantis.

"Only for a moment," Grace replied with a pitying wince. "I need to make sure your eyes are responsive after the surgery. She stepped forward, pulling the dreaded contraption out of her pocket as she went and proceeded to check his reactions to the light. "Good," she commended when she'd finished, "your BP is great, your heart rate is a bit high but that's to be expected, and your temp is fine. I'll get you something for the headache and pain in your shoulder but otherwise I'll leave you alone."

"You're officially my favorite doctor," John complimented with a smile as he leaned his head back against the pillows.

She smiled warmly at him and he found it hard not to lose himself in the shine of it. "Thank you Colonel. That means a lot coming from the man who despises all medical professionals."

"Hey, I don't despise you guys – as long as you're working on somebody else."

"Well since you have a habit of landing yourself in here that's not really much of a comfort now is it?" she chided gently as she plunged the medicine into his IV.

John smiled but didn't answer, his gaze once again upon Beckett.

"Would you like to know how he's doing?" Grace asked hesitantly, stepping to the foot of his bed so she could write her findings down.

The Colonel gave a nod but didn't speak. The look on his face almost made her regret suggesting it but she knew he'd get the information one way or another so she felt it was her place to tell him.

"His wrist is badly sprained with a few hairline fractures. They opted for the soft cast to provide more immobilization while possibly allowing him to use the hand should he choose." They both smiled at that, knowing that Carson would be up and getting in the way as soon as he could. "The surgery on his foot went well but there was quite a bit of damage done to the bones that they couldn't fully repair. The cuneiform in his midfoot was shattered and the extensor tendons and muscles were badly shredded as a result of the bullet entering where it did. They were all repaired as best they could but he will need another surgery in a couple of weeks to fix the secondary fracture and displacement caused by a Lisfranc fracture. The bullet lodged itself into his heel, creating more damage as it went but thankfully the velocity was already slowed by that time and didn't get far."

John nodded numbly. He knew what a Linsfranc fracture was and he knew that the chances of Carson, a man who was rarely off his feet long enough to sleep, recovering fully from that and a heel fracture weren't good.

"The prognosis is good," Grace encouraged. "It's not great but it could be worse. The truth of the matter is Carson will more than likely never fully recover because of the placement of the damage. He will have chronic pain and can suffer from post traumatic arthritis later on down the years but if he follows our orders – and his own – and stays off his foot until it's ready to bear weight, there's a good chance that after a little bit of physical therapy the pain will be minimal."

John nodded again, showing he had heard her but made gave no other indication for responding. Seeing his eyes droop, Grace shrugged and walked away allowing the Colonel to get the rest that he needed. There would be time for more later.

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><p>Clawing, tearing, throbbing pain was what greeted Carson when he woke up and he couldn't stifle the whimper when he recognized it.<p>

"Carson?" Rodney's concerned voice called to him before yelling, "Doctor Porter! Do something, he's in pain!"

"Carson?" Grace Porter's voice called to him and he felt a cool soothing hand on his arm.

Carson turned his head towards her and tried opening his eyes but his body couldn't translate any orders from his brain. All it felt was pain and the desperate need to get rid of it.

"Oh for crying-" Grace began cursing before he heard what he assumed was his chart slamming onto the rolling table that was stationed near every bed. "Just hang in there Carson. It'll be over soon," she soothed, running a hand up and down his forearm.

Cold spread through his veins like someone had managed to put ice water into the syringe instead of medicine and soon he felt the agony decrease then fade until only a minimal ache could be felt. He released a sigh of breath and opened his eyes.

"There that's better," she cooed then smiled when he looked at her. "And look I even get to stare into beautiful blue eyes as thank you. I'm a lucky girl."

"Oh please. He already has every woman on Atlantis wrapped around his little finger. Does he have to know about it too?" Rodney griped as he relaxed back into his chair. His tone was abrasive but his eyes showed the consolation he found in his friend's relief.

"Shut it, Rodney," Carson chastised weakly as he kept his gaze on his doctor. "Hello lass. I don't think I know you."

"She's new," Rodney answered scornfully.

"Yep," Grace answered not at all taking offense to the scientist's tone. "I arrived about two months ago."

Carson shifted, desperate to get into a new position but when the pain renewed itself again, he gave up and tried to remain perfectly still. "And how do you like it here in the Pegasus Galaxy?"

"I like it actually." She laughed warmly when two faces turned to her in shock. As she helped Carson shift to a relatively more comfortable position, she explained further. "Sure you're in life or death situations almost every week but I would take that and vampire aliens over medical bills and insurance any day of the week and it's nice to be living on a place that's so diverse and huge that it's hard to get bored." Grace waited for the information she'd just given to sink in before she took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest and spoke again. "Now, Carson, how are you feeling?"

"What are you kidding me? You just gave him enough medicine to knock out an elephant. How do you think he's feeling?" Rodney snapped as he typed away on his data pad.

"Doctor McKay, the only reason I haven't kicked you out of the area is because you are Carson's friend but if you continue to interrupt I will have you removed to the waiting area until I'm finished. Is that understood?"

Carson smiled at the physicist's surprised look. Yes, he remembered Grace Porter now. This was the woman who was often called Two-face Porter. She could be sweet and friendly one second and hard as nails the next and you wouldn't know what hit you in between. Though she stood at a mere five feet three inches, she was formidable when crossed. Her dark brown hair tied loosely behind her back gave her a soft, genial appearance but the guarded look in her honey brown eyes let you know that you never knew what you were going to get.

"Yes, fine," Rodney pouted after he'd recovered. He went back to his work mumbling something about sadistic doctors as he typed.

"Good," Grace answered, the friendly tone back in her voice. "Now, I'm going to examine you and you can tell me all about how you're feeling. Deal?"

"Aye I think I can do that," Carson replied with as wide a smile as he could muster. He knew that feeling weak was to be expected after a traumatic experience and injury but it still annoyed him that he could barely lift his head off the pillow.

Grace went about checking his vitals while he talked. She knew that he had a habit of answering questions while not actually answering them and she admired that he tried to do it today but she knew he was hurting, exhausted and had a headache. It was natural with what he'd just gone through and she realized he knew that but she could still tell he was annoyed by it. She walked over to his right side to check the fingers of his right arm for swelling and feeling and wasn't surprised when she found the extremities to be swollen. A pillow was good for elevation when the torso of the person is lying down but when he's sitting upright, it doesn't do much.

She moved down to his foot to check for swelling, feeling and infection, smiling to hide her wince as she went. When she touched the bottom of his toes he jerked a little in response, grimacing when it brought nothing but pain in return. "Sorry," she apologized truly meaning it. "I'm just going to check and make sure things are healing like they're supposed to." He nodded by way of answer, the tired geniality of his face was gone and replaced by one of great pain and tears. Knowing just how tender his foot actually was, she refrained from touching it and merely tried to examine it visually. The foot and toes were still badly swollen but the incision site looked good.

"Okay," she announced as she moved back over to his left side to write things down on his chart. "Everything looks pretty good. Your hand and foot are still pretty swollen so we'll get those elevated here pretty shortly and I'll have someone bring a fresh ice pack or two for you."

She walked away to grab a sling for his arm and a couple more pillows for his leg then stopped by and asked Marie to grab a couple of fresh ice packs for her while she went over and helped elevate his injured limbs. If it hadn't been for the bulkiness of the pillows she would have simply grabbed the ice packs herself but as it was she probably would have dropped them.

Grace was accustomed to wanting to make patients feel better, it was why she became a doctor, but something about Carson made her want to make his every pain disappear and she couldn't explain why. Every wince he gave and every pained sound he made hurt and that was something she was not used to at all.

When she came back to Carson's bed, Rodney was gone. "Where's Doctor McKay? I didn't scare him off did I?"

"No lass you didn't," Carson answered with a breathy chuckle. "He was hungry so I urged him to go get some food. I don't need constant supervision after all."

"True," she conceded as she went over to his right side and carefully slipped his injured wrist into the opening of the sling. "Sit up for me?" He did as he was bid, albeit with some difficulty, and she slid the strap over his head, raising it so the front of his arm was higher than the rest. "Did you have him bring you back something as well?"

"No. I'm not really that hungry," Carson answered, watching her like a hawk as she moved down to his foot.

"That's understandable," Grace agreed before alerting him to what she was going to do. "Okay so I'm just going to add a couple more pillows to higher elevation then I'll place a wonderful ice pack on top. Sound good?"

"Aye."

"Alright. Here goes." As gently as she could, Grace lifted his leg and swiftly slid two more pillows under it before placing it back down again. His sigh of relief could be heard throughout the entire infirmary as she walked over to grab the ice packs from the nurse and placed them over his hurting injuries but it drew a smile from her face. She knew she'd helped bring him some relief, not matter how brief, and at the moment she'd take what she could get. "Now. Rest and hopefully you'll feel better when you wake up. Okay?"

Carson gave an obedient nod but leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The lines of pain remained etched on his face for the next hour until his breathing evened out and his heart rate slowed. Then, with help from sleeping, they slowly smoothed out leaving him looking younger and more handsome than he already was.

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><p>John listened to everything from his position in the bed making sure to keep his eyes closed so they didn't notice he was awake. He'd learned long ago that the best way to learn the truth was to pretend you weren't conscious to hear it. He laughed at Rodney and Grace's interaction, silently growing to love the doctor the more he heard. There weren't many in Carson's infirmary that could handle the physicist with tact yet strength and even less who could counter him in attitude but she could and with gusto. It had been hard no to smile as she fretted over Carson, soothing his every hurt with a kind word, soft touch or medicine. He knew her personality had managed to press itself upon Carson and though he himself had found her smile to be dazzling he had a feeling its true brilliance was meant for Carson and Carson only.<p>

He heard Carson release a sigh before his breathing evened out and John knew he was asleep. What he wasn't prepared for was to find Grace Porter standing off to his right with a smile on her face and her arms crossed.

"I thought you were awake and listening and decided to stick around to see if you needed anything," she said by way of explanation never once lecturing him for not letting her know he was awake like all other members of the staff felt the need to do.

"Just needed a break from sleeping," he answered with a half smile. He was still exhausted, something that was normal after the amount of blood loss he suffered, so he knew he wouldn't be awake long.

"Mm," Grace answered as she checked his vitals and injected his IV with something. "Well break's over Colonel. I'm sure the next time you wake, you can talk to Carson and ask him yourself how he's doing," she gave him a look saying she didn't approve of him spying but she understood it, "but for now it's time to sleep."

John felt his eyelids begin to droop and he had just enough time to comment before falling asleep. "I think you may be right about that, Doc."

Grace watched with a shake of her head as the Colonel fell asleep. It was nice to see that he was so concerned for his friend but he too needed to rest and heal. She didn't think it was wise to put them next to each other but she knew it would be worse if they were on opposite sides of the infirmary. Not really up to chasing one or the other, or both, as they tried to check on one another, she allowed their close quarters but knew she would have to keep an eye on them none the less.

After giving each man one last look, allowing her gaze to linger a little longer on Carson, Grace walked away to check on her other patients.

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><p><strong>So.. What do you think? Huh? Tell me, tell me, tell me. Click Review! <strong>


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